Nic Narrates

Every work week I’m at Union Station to catch the Metra to the suburbs. Most of the time, I mindlessly force my way through the crowds of incoming commuters, shove my way down the stairs, and board my train. This morning I wondered, what if I didn’t?

What if instead of getting on the local commuter train, I walked up to the Amtrak ticket counter and boarded one of their trains instead? Amtrak isn’t exactly the most efficient (the arrivals can literally swing a day behind schedule) or the most romantic form of travel (have you ever spent any time on a train with “train people”? The smell, the shoelessness, the snoring, the Golden Grahams smooshed into your seat cushion…), but it can get the job done. In fact, my first excursions out of my hometown were by train, often to this very station. Something about that, about the act of escape, calls to me still.

What if instead of going to work, I bought a ticket to somewhere else? I could literally go anywhere. Anywhere else but here.

I could board a train and take it west to Montana, see the mountains again, the snows that never melt. I could go to the east coast, take the train to Maine; figure out what one does there anyway (eat lobster bisque?). I could head to Seattle, smell the rain and coffee beans and cranberry bogs. I could finally see New Orleans or Boston, San Fransisco or Vancouver. Or maybe just take a day trip to Minneapolis or St. Louis or “exotic” Cleveland. I guess the place isn’t what I’m after, but the going. A different city with different people and a different pace; something just left or right of center.

I could go without a hello or good bye, without a suitcase or camera, without a plan or reservation or companion. I could just go. I could, couldn’t I?

Filed under: in transit, neither here nor there, public transportation, quiet desperation, wanderlust by Nic